1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to garments, materials for garments, and garment systems that are intended to reduce the occurrence of contact sores on the body, such as shoe induced foot ulcers and bed sores.
2. Prior Art Statement
Many people develop contact sores on their bodies. In healthy people, these sores are often caused by poor fitting shoes or another poor fitting garment. As the body moves in relation to the poor fitting garment, friction occurs against the skin which produces chaffing of the skin. Without correction, the chaffing can lead to blistering and finally an open sore.
The problem of contact sores need not be caused by poorly fitting garments. People afflicted with diabetes or circulatory maladies often have skin that can blister and develop sores from the relatively minor chaffing of properly fitting garments. Furthermore, invalids and the infirm who are confined to a wheelchair or a bed, often develop contact sores at the points where their body weight is supported by the chair or bed.
In an attempt to reduce the occurrence of contact sores, garments have been developed in the prior art that contain static padding and position that padding against the skin. The padding in such garments helps distribute the forces acting on the skin at localized contact points, thereby reducing chaffing. However, the use of static padding does not work in many applications. For instance, if excess padding is added to a sock, a person's shoe may no longer fit properly. As a result, new chaffing points may be created and new blisters formed. Furthermore, excess padding may cause a shoe to be too tight and blood circulation can be adversely effected, thereby causing other maladies.
Another method used in the prior art to reduce contact sores is to reduce the amount of friction in between the skin and the garment surrounding the skin. Such a prior art method is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,012 to Fox et al., entitled METHOD FOR TREATING LEGWEAR AND PRODUCT. In the Fox patent, a sock is disclosed where the interior of the sock is coated with a fluoropolymer. The presence of the fluoropolymer reduces friction in between the skin of the foot and the sock. By reducing friction along this interface, it is believed that the amount of chaffing can be reduced and blisters can be avoided. Such a method is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,590,420 to Gunn, entitled LOW FRICTION APPAREL, wherein only specific areas of the interior of a sock contain a low friction material.
A problem associated with coating the interior of a sock with a fluoropolymer is that movement in between the foot and the sock is promoted. The sock therefore moves relative to the foot and does not add any static padding to the foot. Without the static padding of the sock, contact forces are not dispersed against the foot. Certain areas of the foot therefore receive localized forces as the foot moves within the confines of a shoe. Such repeated contact can cause the skin to blister and a sore to develop. Furthermore, if a foot already contains a blister or an open sore, that blister or sore is caused to move past the material of the sock. The movement of the blister or sore relative to the sock can open the wound or otherwise aggravate the wound. As a result, although a sock with a slick interior may prevent the formation of some new contact sores, such socks prevent the proper healing of any sores that may develop or that already exist.
A need therefore exists in the prior art for a garment structure that reduces the formation of contact sores, distributes contact forces acting on the foot and does not aggravate or inhibit the healing of existing contact sores. This need is met by the present invention as described and claimed below.